NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans City Planning Commission (CPC) will begin holding public hearings this week to consider the 2016–2020 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The CIP is a five-year program for City expenditures for permanent physical improvements. Each year, the CIP identifies the physical needs of the City’s agencies, estimates the costs of proposed projects, and recommends expenditures and sources of funding for priority capital improvements. CPC uses comments from the public hearings to help guide and prioritize its efforts.
The public hearings begin Monday, June 22, 2015, and run through Wednesday, July 15, 2015. A detailed schedule of the hearing dates, times, and locations for each City agency has been posted on CPC’s website at www.nola.gov/city-planning/capital-improvement-plan/ along with materials related to each project proposal.
All hearings will be held in Conference Room A of the One Stop Shop on the 7th floor of City Hall except for NORDC, DPW and Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office which will be in the Homeland Security Conference Room on the 8th floor of City Hall.
These meetings were publicly advertised in the Times-Picayune on June 12, 17 and 19, 2015.
Projects considered through the CIP process involve investments in the City’s infrastructure and facilities, including streets, police and fire stations, parks and recreation facilities, City offices, libraries, community centers, museums and cultural facilities, and the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Funding for the projects comes from several sources, including the general obligation bonds sold by the City, the State of Louisiana’s capital outlay program, federal funds, and self-generated revenues, such as leases. The City Charter requires that all capital expenditures must be consistent with the City’s Master Plan, the Plan for the 21st Century: New Orleans 2030.
The CPC prepares and adopts annually the CIP and presents it as a recommendation to the Mayor and the City Council. Upon receipt of the CIP, the Mayor will make recommendations to the City Council along with a proposed capital budget ordinance for 2016. The City Council will consider the CIP and must adopt the City’s 2016 Capital Budget by December 1, 2015.
Residents may submit written comments to the CPC at City Hall 1300 Perdido St., 7th Floor, or email at cpcinfo@nola.gov.
